Definitely Acquired: Cantonese Children's Acquisition of Definiteness
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Abstract
This study aims to assess Cantonese-speaking children’s ability to express definiteness through classifiers in an adult-like manner. Despite the fact that Cantonese lacks determiners, as shown by the NP/DP and nominal mapping parameters, scholars claim that Cantonese can still achieve several functions of determiners through classifiers, and that bare classifiers [Cl+N] specifically are capable of expressing definiteness, similar to English’s the. Past studies have shown that English-speaking children exhibit sensitivity to definiteness through the at ages 1-3. We claim that there is likewise the existence of early-age sensitivity to definiteness in Cantonese-speaking children, and that there is support for Cheng and Sybesma’s claim that bare classifiers in Cantonese are comparable to definite articles in English.